Girl Talk
by AznEejit
Summary: Through 2.13, Elena and Bonnie sleeps over at Caroline's for the night in her time of need.


Summary: Through 2.13, Elena and Bonnie sleeps over at Caroline's for the night in her time of need.

Caroline was wrapped up in Elena's and Bonnie's caring embrace for a good several minutes before she realized her poor, hosting manners.

"Oh my gosh," she laughed self-consciously as she broke the group hug, attempting to wipe away her tears with her hand, "I'm getting you guys wet," she said with a sniffle.

"Don't worry about it," Elena assured, reaching out to one of Caroline's hands and lightly holding it in hers, "What you went through was incredibly—" she closed her eyes momentarily, thinking of the appropriate word to describe torture by werewolves, "—insane."

Caroline let a small smile escape on her face and glanced at both Elena and Bonnie happily, before turning her attention to Stefan, who was still standing outside the door with a little smile of his own on a job well-done.

It was rewarding for Stefan to see that he was able to help Caroline, considering how poorly his conversation with Tyler went. Maybe he was only able to say the right things with Caroline because she was always the optimist. When she turned into a vampire, she believed that she could live an almost-normal life under the guise of a human. That she deserved more than being a nuisance to the Salvatore brothers that she had to be staked and she had wanted to extend her newfound wisdom to Tyler. He had only hoped that she had not been changed too much by the traumatic experience.

"Thank you so much for this, Stefan," Caroline attempted to smile brightly for him, but he knew she was still hurting inside, "You have no idea how grateful I am to have you—" she glanced at both Elena and Bonnie, lingering a little bit longer on Bonnie, "—all of you as my friends."

They stayed that way for a minute, awkwardly, before Caroline let out a sniffle that broke the silence.

"Ok—" Bonnie said in a higher octave, breaking the silence even further.

"—I should go—"

"Yeah—and thanks again, Stefan," Caroline said, still smiling, as she grasped the doorknob to close it, while Stefan, nodding, took a couple of steps backward before turning around to walk away properly.

Caroline closed the door completely and locked it. She avidly turned around to face Bonnie and Elena with a slight bounce.

"So, let me direct you to your suite, where you may drop off your stuff!" Caroline inhaled deeply, facing her two gal pals, before walking between them and grasping each of their hands to tug them forward in her direction.

Elena and Bonnie glanced at each other, knowingly, before moving along with Caroline. She dropped their hands as she approached the stairs, leading the girls up to her bedroom, even though they knew where it was located from the numerous times they hung out with Caroline when they were younger. Not much has changed in the layout and placement of things in her house, with Sheriff Forbes always being gone, and Caroline being a busybody, student pres coping with her newfound vampirism. Not to say that Caroline was so busy that she could not bother to decorate the house, but with how everything was going lately, there were much better things to be concerned about.

They entered Caroline's bedroom, grasping their handbags with their stuff for the night, and dropped it off at the end of Caroline's bed. They turned to face Caroline, unsure of what else to do.

"—so, um, I wasn't really expecting anyone tonight—" Caroline looked around the room absently with her hands clasped together in front of her, while she slightly rolled back and forth on her slipper-enclosed feet.

She was trying to think of a way to say that she _really _needed to feed without sounding too...rude? Maybe awkward? She was well-aware of how Bonnie was sensitive to the whole, vampire-Caroline deal, and it was only recently that Bonnie started to warm up to the idea that she didn't want to push her luck.

Elena nodded her head in realization and glanced downward briefly before looking up at Caroline to muster what she wanted to say, having caught onto what Caroline was trying to convey in her tongue-tied state, "Look, Caroline, if you need to—" she glanced at Bonnie, slightly raising her eyebrows at her, before looking back at Caroline, "—go drink—then you should. Nobody is going to judge you or anything," Elena looked at Bonnie for back-up, cocking her head at her, as if prodding her to speak forth.

Bonnie's eyes widened in understanding, realizing what she needed to do, "Of course, Caroline, you do what you have to do," Bonnie said with slight hesitation, but putting her faith in Elena's words. Considering how out-of-touch she and Caroline had been, even after they've reconciled, she wasn't certain how her fangy, friend had been quenching her thirst lately other than going to Damon's basement freezer of blood.

Caroline clarified to Bonnie, "Um—I actually have a supply, right in the corner over here—" Caroline walked to the little compact fridge near Elena, and opened it completely to show Elena and Bonnie some blood packs she's been sneaking from Damon's stash to her stash, "I realized that I might need some emergency packs if I wasn't up for hunting and well—after everything that's happened tonight— I was right. Yay, foresight!" Caroline smiled and laughed nervously, feeling self-conscious at having to show the dark, reality of her "curse" to her friends.

Elena and Bonnie looked at the opened fridge with surprised silence until Bonnie finally piped up, "Caroline—all this time. I had no idea… I was so—so upset with Damon and with wha—what you did at the carnival that I didn't even think about how you've had to adjust with your… condition," Bonnie said, looking at the blood packs before finally looking up at Caroline with tearful eyes.

"And I've been so… consumed about Elijah and the moonstone that I didn't even think about what you might be going through or how to comfort you," Elena added, looking at Caroline guiltily.

"Oh—you guys!" Caroline closed the fridge door and pulled both Elena and Bonnie into an embrace simultaneously, before breaking away to look at the two of them, "We've all been so busy. Everything has been so crazy that we've been so consumed in our own problems!" Caroline turned away from the girls for a moment and walked in the opposite direction to gather her thoughts, then turned around again and gesticulated with her hands unconsciously, "I know I'm new to this whole…thing, but that doesn't mean I can't handle this stuff on my own. After all, I've always been somewhat of a neurotic, control freak… This is just another thing for me to add to the resume."

Elena smiled at Caroline knowingly, "We know, Caroline, but we don't want you to feel that you have to shoulder everything on your own. I know we haven't been doing a good job of it lately, but I want you to know that we're here for you."

"Absolutely, and I can't believe that I'm about to quote something from High School Musical, but we really are all in this together," Bonnie added.

"I can't believe you actually quoted that, too," Caroline said with an amused smile, "Yeah—don't ever do that or at least— don't quote High School Musical."

Elena cocked an eyebrow at Caroline playing confused, "Didn't you used to watch High School Musical?"

"That is ancient history and is never is to be repeated outside of this room. Ever. Now—if we're done here, I'd like to go get a mug to satisfy my vampy needs." Caroline said as she went to grab 3 blood packs from her mini-fridge and was about to speed out of her bedroom to get a mug from downstairs when she back-tracked to the girls, her head poking out of the side of her bedroom entrance, "Oh and feel free to pick out a movie from up here while I'm gone. There are also more movies downstairs, too, if you wanna go have a look-see," she said with a quaint smile.

"You know, we don't really mind if you decide to satisfy your vampy needs up here with us. We can wait for you to come back up with your mug, while we decide upon a movie together," Bonnie assured.

"Well, ok then. I guess I'll just pop down for a few to get us some popcorn," Caroline smiled brightly, teeth (not fangs) and all, before leaving the girls' view. Tonight was going to take the turn for the best, she thought, as she opted to walk at normal human speed instead, with a slight bounce to her steps.

Bonnie and Elena looked at each other with knowing smirks. Things were back to the way they should be… or at least close to it.

Author's Note: I don't typically write stuff. Mostly because I'm unsatisfied with the way I write, but I've decided to give into the nagging itch by writing a fic. Especially with all that's happened on the show recently. I feel that Caroline hasn't been given enough screen time until 2.13, but even then she was tortured and it was heart-wrenching to watch. Now, I'm writing a fic centered on her.

This chapter turned out to be a little more saccharine than I originally intended, but whatever. It is what it is and I'm not too keen on having to change it without some sort of feedback first. Anyway, review and I might just continue. Hopefully, it'll be less touchy-feely as I proceed with the story.


End file.
